


Taako Bell: The Great Fairy Rescue

by I_Otaku



Series: Mid 2000s movie AUs [4]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, I still don't have a better explanation than that, M/M, Taako is Tinker Bell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-19 01:22:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19346674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Otaku/pseuds/I_Otaku
Summary: Taako is Tinker fairy, blessed by Queen Istus. And he might have completely disrupted the natural balance of the seasons a few months ago, but it's chill now. And he got a hunky new boyfriend too. Now, it's summer vacation time. He gets to get out of the hollow! But he also gets himself into serious danger.Part two of the Taako Bell series!





	Taako Bell: The Great Fairy Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! I'm not normally one for authors notes, but I figured this deserved it! This is the second part of the Taako Bell series, you could theoretically read this without reading Secret of the Wings, but if you read that first it'll make a lot more sense. 
> 
> I'd also recommend skimming SotW for just some background information, because yeah it's been a while! I hope you all enjoy, I did end up taking some pretty serious inspiration from comments. Especially those wonderful readers who were interested in Avi <3

Taako flits his wings, dancing around his kitchen while one of Johan's music boxes plays. Kravitz hand delivered it a few days prior, with a sweet date and a sappy handwritten letter. Taako pats his side where the letter is and plates another bowl of fresh fruit, to place on the counter. Fairies move around the diner, aside from the music playing in the kitchen other fairies are talking and cheering. Lup stops by the diner and drapes herself across his back as Taako cooks more. He pinches her side and she knocks his hat off. When she starts being useful it’s still nice.

After the rough spring, the transition to summer was a breeze. Kravitz can’t visit too often, and Taako may technically be on probation for kind of destroying the whole natural balance of the seasons, but it’s fine. He’s fine. He submitted some tinker designs for the greater good and all that jazz, he spends time with his family, he cooks and makes merry. He feeds everyone, he bullies Lucas and lets the older more experienced fairies do most of the work. Like Magnus, the big excited puppy of a pixie he is, ends up being the bearer of news more often than not.

 

“Hey, I’m here to deliver a message!” Magnus smiles, barreling into the diner and bubbling with glee.

Taako and Lup turn to him, rolling identical hands. 

“They used your designs Taako! At Jules’ basecamp they followed your layout plans!” Magnus vaults himself over the counter, pulling Taako into an uncoordinated hug and squeezing him.

“Fuck!” Taako wheezes, attempting to get his limbs back into a comfortable position.

“Congrats ‘Ko!” Lup jumps on him next, and Magnus swings the three of them back and forth.

“They said you could come visit, if you’re interested!”

“Davenport is correcting you!” Lucretia calls, slowly approaching the diner next.

“Yeah but it was like close enough,” Magnus blows a raspberry and lets Taako go, for the fairy to stumble forward and take heaving breaths. 

Lucretia speaks again, looking around the empty diner while still writing in what appears to be a journal. “Captain Davenport does have important news though.”

The man himself nods, and all present filter around the counter to see what he has to say.

_ Hello everyone. _

“Hey dad.” They all echo in time.

He huffs a laugh and shakes his hands.  _ Alright, Magnus was a little right.  _

“Haha!”

_ They did in fact use Taako’s designs for the layout of the new scout camp, they’ve expanded it to an entire summer setup. And as a result, they’re a bit understaffed. I was asked to recruit a few more hands. _

Taako and Lup look at each other, giddy.

_ Lup, as a fast flying fairy you’d be incredibly useful in helping distribute pixie dust to other colonies and in general deliveries. Would you be interested in spending a fair bit of the season at the camp? _

“If Taako’s going, I’m going.” She smiles, and thrums her hands on the counter.

Davenport nods,  _ Taako, as the presiding designer Queen Istus was very interested in showing you exactly what good your design did. You’re a bright mind, and we could always use you for tinkerings and improvements. Would- _

“If Lup’s going, I’m going.” He interrupts, and Davenport rolls his eyes. 

_ Magnus- _

“I wanna propose to Julia!” He blurts out, before blinking. “Y-Yes.”

Lup punches him in the arm and he elbows her back. “You big softie-”

“I mean- yeah I’m going, there’s no question about it.” He nods, “I just also have things I want to do.”

“Congratulations,” Lucretia smiles, closing her journal.

_ So, it seems all of us are interested in going to the camp. _

“Plantfucker?” Taako asks, tilting his head. 

_ He’s serving under another minister at the moment, I don’t have jurisdiction over him. _

“Under him is right-” Magnus says through the side of his mouth.

“Nasty boy!” Lup punches him again, and he gets her in a playful headlock. 

Taako rolls his eyes. “Anything else Cap’n’port?”

He shakes his head.  _ Lucretia, could you write them up logs and preparations? _

She nods, she flips her journal back open and rushes her hand across the page. She flips it, and does another, in a matter of seconds she’s created four copies of the same document which she tears out and hands to each person. “Has the time to be ready by, recommended packings, a few general tips, what to expect, that kinda stuff. Any questions, feel free to hit me up.”

Taako looks over the page with a nod and Magnus and Lup disengage long enough to grab their own pages.

“Oh, and Taako?”

“Hmm?” He looks up and Lucretia smiles.

“Queen Istus is interested in testing bond magic.” She smiles, “Some of the journals I found specifically. Not the good ones, but.” She scratches her scalp and huffs a small laugh. “What I’m saying is as one of the blessed Kravitz will be around for a few days. Too dangerous for him to be out the entire season, but new tinkerings courtesy of Maureen suggest he can travel.”

“Oh  _ fuck _ yeah!” Taako squeezes his free hand and throws his hat up in the air. “Summer vacation baby!”

 

Taako and Lup spend the night packing up, they leave the day after tomorrow but they want to say their goodbyes and wrap things up. The diner closes early, Taako cleans and dries all of the dishes, the tools, the cutlery. The visit some of their friends, most of the scout fairies are already at the camp, so it doesn’t take long. The morning they’re set to leave, the twins are up bright and early with their bags packed and hands clasped together. 

They meet at the pixie dust tree, surprised to see a few others there already. Maureen for one, she gives relaxed salute and Taako squeezes Lup’s hand excitedly. Davenport and Lucretia are going over final requirements for the carriages, any extra supplies, and general emergency materials.

Lup nearly jumps out of her skin when a familiar figure runs up to Davenport and pulls his goggles up.

“The pixie dust is safe and secure captain, we have enough for the camp and for distribution.”

_ Thank you Avi. _

Lup lets go of her brother, and runs over. “Hey! Avi!” He turns, and smiles.

“Hey Lup!”

“You coming too?” She gives him a quick hug, and he nods. 

“Usually stationed at the tree, but I got a special assignment.” H squeezes his hands together, “I wasn’t expecting to ever get one since I can’t fly and all but-!”

“I’m so happy for you buddy,” Lup squeezes his shoulder, “Wings or not you’re the most talented duster I’ve ever known.”

He elbows her gently in the side, “I’m the only duster you’ve ever known.”

“Doesn’t change the facts. I’m gonna go back to Taako, but good luck doing any final touch ups!” He nods in response, giving her a wave.

 

Taako is unexpectedly soft when she returns. “How was he?”

“Good! Excited to have some good people with us.” She shoves her hands in her pockets, and Taako nods.

“I wouldn’t mind...” Taako’s voice trails off, and Lup tenses.

“I’m not- Even though he doesn’t have wings, mine would still react.” Lup says harshly. Then she shakes her head- “No. We’re not having this discussion again, alright?”

Taako squeezes her hand. “I just want you to be happy Lulu.”

“I know. I’m happy. I’m happy here, with everyone.” Her words are still wounded, her heart is still bleeding, but Taako nods.

“We’ll make it out of this just fine.”

 

“So why can’t we fly?” Magnus asks, sat at the front of one of the material carriages and working to guide the harnessed squirrel down the path following the dozen or so other carts.

Avi is startlingly the one to reply first. “You wanna carry all this shit?”

“Fair enough.” Magnus nods.

“Hey, is this related to that human house they found not too far from the hollow?” Taako asks, looking around the seating area. Avi, Lup and Maureen all shrug. “I heard some of the scouts found a human house and they were gonna bring it up to the queen- maybe we can check it out.”

“Dangerous,” Lup says the same time Maureen says “Interesting.”

“I can only imagine what kinda stuff the humans have got going on- they have much easier access to metal and they can make anything from stuff our size to thousands of times our size!” Taako throws his arms out to accentuate, and Avi nods.

“It’s dangerous.” He says quietly.

“Yeah- but it’s gotta be incredible-”

“Dangerous.” He says again, folding hands. He turns his head, looking out the back of the cart.

Taako nods.

 

The travel takes a while, the camp turns out to be further from the hollow than they expected. They talk idly as the cart rolls, the fairies that can fly take small breaks to stretch their wings, and when it starts to rain Avi is the one to bring the light. He laughs, withdrawing some kind of flask from his carry bag and he pops a few small cups off of the lid.

“I swear, as soon as it starts raining everybody gets a big ol’ case of the weepies. Lup,” He extends the flask towards Lup and she nods, reaching out and putting her hand on the flask. After a few seconds she leans back on the bench and Avi cracks it open. Steam comes spilling out, and Avi takes a deep inhale. “Cider should cheer you up.”

“I can fly through snow, just sucks that rain is so- mean.” Taako is laying on the floor.

“Rain fuckin’ sucks.” Lup takes a warm cup of cider and smiles. “Thanks.” 

Avi nods, pouring a cup for Maureen who takes it with a tired smile.

Taako finally gets his, he sits up and lays his head on the seat of the bench and kicks his legs out across the floor. “Thanks,”

“No problem,” Avi takes his own drink from the flask and sighs. “You know, after a while it kinda started bein’ nice.” He says, watching the rain fall and slide down the long grass surrounding their path.

“Tell us about it.” Maureen raises her cup to him and he gives a nervous laugh. 

“Just- instead of being sad the rain makes me happy now. It’s kinda like, we’re all here, we’re all together right now. All we can do is walk, it makes me feel more equal.”

“You-”

“No, it’s okay Lup.” Avi takes another swig. “I’m different and that’s fine. I don’t want pity or to be fixed. I’m just different. And the rain makes me happy.”

The silence that falls isn’t uncomfortable, but everyone nods and suddenly finds their drinks very interesting.

 

When they finally arrive at the camp, Taako is ready to carry the damn shit himself. The carriage ride is slow and the rain has passed, it’s been almost two days when Magnus excitedly points to a large bush just on the horizon.

“That’s the camp!” He says, “It’s hidden in the bush to keep in invisible from the humans.” Lup crawls onto the bench behind him, draping herself over his back and shoulders.

“So like- is it near any human places?”

“Not that we know,” Maureen hefts herself onto the bench and adjusts her spectacles, she pulls out a journal and flips it open. “Although from what Captain Davenport told me there are many many more camps, maybe one of those is close to the new house Sloane talked about.”

“She talk to you about it too?” Taako is braiding Avi’s hair as he sits, cleaning his goggles. 

“She did vaguely, I must confess that it got me rather interested, the humans have such a unique metallurgy sense I want to mimic someday.”

“Nerds-” Lup says, standing up from Magnus and jumping off the carrier to take to the air. “I’ll go give them a heads up we’re finally arriving.” And then she’s gone in a hot breeze, and Taako and Avi move up to the front as they near. There’s still a fair bit of time, Taako finishes Avi’s braid and cleans up the cabin area with a little flourish of magic.

Once they get within a good enough range, Lup is back and talking hurried, Avi jumps from the cart and moves to the back end as they ride. Then Lup is shooting back to the camp and Avi is running along the ground, both with packs and jars of pixie dust.

And Taako is just about to jump down himself when they breach the bush. Twigs and branches part to reveal a small utopia, tall buildings and fairies flying around everywhere. It’s just like Taako designed, just as he envisioned. It’s a giant ammonite shape, a swirl that starts with smaller buildings, the small pathways swirling to the highest and most important buildings. The Pixie dust container is placed at the highest point, and as the carts enter they follow the earliest curve to park and begin unloading. A few pixies fly over to start unloading, some leave the carts to get to work, Taako sees Davenport and Lucretia leave with Pan to work on minister business. And very unsurprisingly, the familiar pack of scout fairies descends, the only warning Taako gets is looking up to see Magnus’ wings glowing and then he’s falling out of the driver's seat and getting swept up in a big pair of arms. 

They’re laughing, Taako thinks they’re about to get all teary as Julia pulls his hair down and fists her hands in his hair. Magnus leans into her, now taking her middle and kissing her with his entire upper body. 

“Alright- don’t eat each other alive in public!” Carey comes down next, pouncing on Magnus and getting him in a headlock. 

“Hey he’s my boyfriend!” Julia laughs, wrestling Carey off of him. Taako lets them go, until two more scouts bracket him. Noelle and Hurley give him quick hugs, and there’s a lot of talking all at once.  When they calm down enough, Taako is happy to talk.

“Hey, glad my design’s working so well.” He gestures vaguely at the camp, and Hurley laughs. 

“Yeah, don’t get too cocky. There’s still a lot of work we have to do around here, I think you’ll have less but there’s still stuff.” She pats his arm, and Taako nods.

“Kinda glad to be honest, stuff to do.” Taako just keeps looking around, he sees everything moving smoothly. Carts are loaded, run, emptied, returned, fairies don’t run into each other, animals are flown overhead around the pixie dust collection. He’s filled with a strong pride, a feeling that he’s actually done good work to benefit the hollow. He’s looking up when he sees Lup and Avi approach the collection the former through the air and the latter up the ramp. They talk for a bit, and then Lup nods and takes off for somewhere else in the camp, it looks like she’s already getting sent on assignments. He looks back down with a happy sigh, to find Julia, Magnus, and Carey all in a giant writhing mass of limbs as they wrestle around in the dirt until Killian finally shows up. Then Carey’s quick to fly out, and perch on her girlfriend’s shoulder.

“So, you guys here for work stuff?” Killian walks around, clasping hands with Taako, Magnus, Maureen, and a few of the nobodies descending from other carts.

“Special assignment.” Maureen nods.

“Well, I’m sure if you all take a fairy that’s already here we can get you acquainted not a problem. Julia, you’ll show Magnus around the Animal talent spots?”

“Bold of you to assume I’m letting him wander around without some guiding force.” Julia says, one of her arms across Magnus’ back to tuck her hand into his back pocket.

“You’re the wild one Jules-” Magnus laughs, before she leans down and shuts his up with a kiss.

Carey blows a raspberry and flips the both of them off.

“Well my point stands. This place runs like a well oiled machine, thanks to you from what I hear.” Killian approaches Taako next, pats his shoulder and Taako feels his teeth rattle in his skull. She is stronger than he remembers. 

“You are welcome,” He gives a bow, “I expect nothing but praise for my entire time here.” He stands, and Killian rolls her eyes. 

“Well, thank you ladies but I have a meeting to attend,” Maureen takes to the air, “I’ll see you all again later.” And Taako watches her go, before slowly everyone has places to be. He doesn’t reach out for a guide or anything, everyone rightly assumes he won’t get lost. But it still feels a little bit weird. 

 

He’s surprised when one of the safety stations is larger than he designed, and upon further searching he finds the secondary station not at all for healing talent fairies. Instead, it’s a small kitchen, a half mock-up of his diner back home. He doesn’t feel quite so lonely. He doesn’t quite have the work that others do, but he does have a small temporary cottage with Lup, he has cool drinks to serve and a counter for others to lean on. He’s happy to take it easy in the high heat, listen to other pixies bitch and moan, he becomes the friendly neighborhood barkeep. He doesn’t have to work, some days he loiters around and watches others work, sometimes he sleeps for half the day and starts up a little nightlife sector. It’s really nice at first, then nice, then okay. He doesn’t have anything to do. 

At first he’s glad to have the time off, but eventually his hands start to tingle all the time, he wants to tinker, he wants to make things. He wants to do important things for helping the greater good, get attention and appreciation. But he- he just doesn’t have anything to do. 

It’s his design, yeah, but he never accounted for himself in it. The tinker space is small for the small number there for fix-ups and last minute designs, and everything is working fine. Nothing breaks down, nothing runs wrong, nothing self destructs. 

Taako leans on his side of the counter, listening as Avi talks. 

“It’s great, Taako. You did a good job, it’s a good thing you get to relax.”

“Yeah- but cha’boy’s not the type to just sit back and do nothing for this long- a little vacation is great but it’s literally in my blood to fuck around with stuff all the time.” Taako says, tapping his nails on the countertop.

“Lup should be back from her latest run soon,” Avi offers, “I know she’s been busy but she and Sloane are the only ones we can really trust to run the dust quick and careful.”

“Yeah, yeah. She’s great,” Taako stands up and gets himself a cup of water. He sets it down and fiddles with his hair, pulling it into a high bun. “She has shit to do.”

“You could see if any of the talents could use a hand? I’m good cause my work’s  _ real _ specialty, but light fairies? They’re busy with all the sunshine. The animal talents are decorating ladybugs and butterflies? You were- you were almost a water right? Maybe something with the river not too far from here? The fish?”

“I appreciate the enthusiasm-” Taako takes a long sip of his water. “I’ll figure it out. Now get goin’ dusty, I wanna call it an early night.”

“Take care Taako.” Avi pushes up from his seat and drops to the ground, before walking out.

 

Taako wakes up the next morning, and quickly decides to change his pace a little. He heads off towards the center of camp, and finds Lucretia in one of the buildings dutifully at work transcribing two journals, one with either hand. She looks up as he knocks on the open door and smiles.

“Good morning Taako, how is your vacation going?”

“It’s- okay. Had a couple questions.” He watches her finish one sentence and set the quill down, before finishing the other and setting it down too. “Weird.”

“I prefer talented, but what’s up?”

“First one, how are you here anyway? You’re a winter.” Taako saunters over, sliding one of the journals to sit on her desktop. 

She rolls her eyes as he sits, and fishes around in her robe. She pulls out a pendant, a large snowflake that she extends toward him, although she doesn’t take off the necklace. “Have you ever heard of an ember of a fire? One that burns bright and can relight, and all of that other history nonsense?”

“Yeah-” Taako’s cut off as he delicately takes one end in his fingers.

“My Queen gave me an ember snowflake. It’s forever cold, blessed by her magic. It doesn’t do a whole lot, but Captain Davenport helped manipulate the bond magic to do most of the heavy lifting.” She looks over her shoulder at her fluttering wings, and Taako does too.

“That answers another question.”

“An act of true love,” She smiles, tucking the pendant back away. “I’m still technically a winter fairy, but I’m set up to survive hot seasons just like you. Now neither of us glow.”

“You get a lot less stares walkin’ around, lemme tell you.” Taako laughs and Lucretia does too. “But uh, yeah okay. Uhm, you know if anybody needs any help or anything? Kinda- kinda got too much free time to be honest.”

“It’s only been a week and a half,” Lucretia looks up at him, “Are you-”

“A tinker.” He interrupts. “Wanna- do things.”

“I’ll ask around, last I heard there were some issues with the fish at the river not too far out from camp. The current can be rather strong-”

“I’ll be careful. Uh- thanks. Don’t fuckin’ tell anyone though.” Taako flits back to the doorway as Lucretia replies. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Taako smiles as he dips out of the office. 

 

It doesn’t take him too long to find the river, although he does spend a little too long in the walkway there and maybe he derails a cart, causing a little bit of a spill. He’s out of there before he can start to feel bad. The river calls to him louder than any yell, he hears the way it rumbles over the stones and babbles with a voice that knows no words. He parts a few blades of tall grass and takes a deep breath, breathing in the wet air. 

“Hey! Welcome!” Somebody calls, waving him over. He follows, and approaches a pixie, half submerged in the water on the bank. Their dark skin is shining with water drops. “I’m Seychelle,”

“Taako,”

“Nice to meet you! What can I help you with?”

“Heard there was some- some stuff you could use help with?” He looks up and down the back, the water rushes straight and true, he doesn’t see any other pixies or any fish though.

“Well the fish were taken care of a few minutes ago,” Seychelle says. She pushes herself further up on the bank by her arms, and Taako notices once her legs are more visible, her ankles are tied together. He doesn’t see any wings. “But if you’d like to head a little down stream, I think there are some spots that could be dammed off for better flow.” She looks up at him, and she pulls her locs back into a large bun.

“Sure, ‘m not doing anything better. You wanna lead me there?”

“Follow me then, don’t get lost!” And then she pushes herself down into the river, and Taako watches her disappear. He takes a few hurried steps into the water before she breaches already downstream.

“If you can’t swim fast then fly!” And then she’s gone again, and Taako takes to the air following her. She swims through the water and Taako follows in the air, watching her shape in the water ripple and shine with the morning sun. When they reach a split that branches into two smaller leads, Seychelle beaches herself and Taako lands. 

“So you’re not a water?” She asks, pulling herself onto the beach. 

“Uh- no.”

“You have any inclination to it?”

“A bit?”

“We can make that work. Hold on-” And she reaches onto her back and pulls off the swimming cap, her wings flutter out from her back. And then she’s in the air, floating with her ankles still tied. “I’ll work on moving the water, could you start on making some kind of dam?”

“Sure-” Taako lets her goes and starts clambouring along the sides, lifting stones and twigs, he gets into the river to pull out some mud for mortar. He looks up to see Seychelle routing the water, it flows in from upstream and she moves it in waves of calm. He uses some of his magic to solidify the structure, he moves as quick as he can and doesn’t pay a lot of attention and just lets his hands move. 

He’s out of breath when he finally finishes, he climbs onto the driest point of the bank and rolls down his pant legs. “Alright, let’s let it go.” He calls.

Seychelle nods and lets the water go, it runs down the stream and collides with the dam, before it bounces off and continues down the larger fork. 

“Hey! Good job!” Seychelle calls. “Ready for the next one?” And Taako follows her as she resets her cape and takes to the water. 

 

In his defense, it takes three built dams for him to finally give in to his exhaustion. They’re close to the mouth leading into a larger body of water, far down the fork. Taako does his best to build this last dam, he has much less to work with and Seychelle is working more against the water than ever before. It’s stronger now, louder and crueler. He’s kneeling in the center of the dry bank, trying to finish when Seychelle screams, and he looks up.

Then, water is rushing down the fork and the dam gets hit with the full force of the river. Sticks are sent flying and stones rolling as water breaks it, and Taako covers his head as it shoots over him, sending him flying through the river. The water rushes over his ears and soaks his clothes, he can’t move his wings and he breaks the surface with a gasping breath. A hand grabs his wrist when he feels his lungs start to burn, and Seychelle drags him onto the bank

She’s heaving her own breaths and Taako curls up on his side spitting water. 

“Are you alright? Taako-” Seychelle rolls him onto his back and Taako nods, spitting a final mouthful of brackish water onto the mud. “I’m so sorry- the others were moving some fish downstream too fast with the new dams up-”

He sits up and wrings out his braid, he wipes his face. “Fuck-”

“Yeah, fair response.” She smiles, “As long as the next school of fish get through we should be fine. I take it you can’t swim?”

“I can- just- when the water is calm and I’m not taken by surprise.”

“Yeah, and now you can’t fly. I’m really sorry about this.”

“I’ll just head back, hopefully my wings will dry out before then.” A shiver runs through him despite the heat, and Seychelle sends him off. Taako walks the long distance back to camp, his wings don’t dry out until three quarters of the way there, and by the time he gets back it’s nearly evening and he feels like a drowned rat. He goes to his temporary cottage and changes clothes, he calls it an early night and sleeps with both a feeling of helpful and helplessness.

 

The next morning Taako’s surprised to find Magnus already waiting at the mini-diner.

“Morning!” He grins.

“What.” Taako replies, taking down his braid and doing a quick ponytail instead.

“Rude!” He calls back, “I hear you were looking for things to do.”

“I’m not helping you pro-”

“Shh!!” Magnus interrupts with a yell, waving his hands. “Not that! I’m still working on that!”

“Alright, well then what?”

“First- breakfast. I want pancakes. Then- I figured you could help me paint butterflies today!”

“Never been one for painting, but I guess it’s worth a shot,” Taako muses.

 

Taako is  _ very _ bad with paint, it turns out. He tries to follow along as best he can, he slowly starts to fall behind as every animal talent picks up speed, he starts to get overwhelmed and angry when the leader announces they’d be switching to ladybugs he rushes to finish and the butterfly starts to flutter and he panics-

He backs up and knocks a few of the paint cans from their stand, he gets one all over another animal talent and one goes sloshing across his butterfly. Then there’s a whole panic as the fairy screams and  _ their _ butterfly panics and then everybody is moving and yelling. The monarch he was working on isn’t nice and neat, the black smears along the wing, when he stumbles somebody painting a different butterfly even sends blue and yellow over. It’s wings flap quick though, the paint is smeared even worse now, it panics before the animal talent can do anything. Then, all of them are panicking, all at different stages of completion, and they take off into the air before anyone can get things back together. He backs away as everyone starts to clean up, he hears Magnus say something and then he’s rushing home to peel off his painted outfit. He throws the balled up clothes against the wall, he takes one of Lup’s shirts to wear. He can’t seem to do anything right. He’s sits in his cottage, head in his hands. His design works great- it just works perfectly without equating for him. He doesn’t fit in here. He rocks back and forth as he breathes. 

He opens up the mini-diner late that evening, it’s quiet and Taako plays the music box he brought with him. Nobody really stops by, he gets a few stragglers but people have figured well enough to leave him be. The only light that comes is when a messenger stops by, telling him one of the fast flyers is returning to camp that night. He tries to put himself back together and it almost works, he can walk and act well enough. He’s sat in one of the main areas of camp, getting up every few minutes to get out of the way of something or another, it all goes so smooth he forgets that he’s getting in the way when he sits on the side of a path or floats above a building.

And then when he sees a zip of purple slash across the night sky, he feels like he can breathe again. That everything’s going to be okay and he didn’t make a mistake coming out here after all. And then when she approaches, Sloane rushes to give him a hug. 

“Hey! What are you doing out here? I heard Lup was coming but-” 

Taako tries not to let his face fall, he nods. 

“Welcome to the summer camp!” She rubs his shoulders with her hands, “You find the best places to set up tripwires yet?”

“No- I- It’s been a while and I’ve been taking a bit of a vacation. Had a few accidents as of late but.” He wants to continue his thought, but he can’t exactly find the words.

“Well if you want to hang out before I’m off on my next assignment-” She leans in, “And lemme tell you- this is the camp Hurley was talking about.”

“What?”

“Back when I was at the diner last, before the frosting. She and sweet flips found that human house?”

“Fuck- haven’t thought about that in a while.” Taako nods, it’s at least something to focus on.

“Well, it wasn’t this camp, the camp they  _ were _ at was about a days fly away and then this one got built and -” She waves her hands hurriedly. “But anyway, it’s close. We can go check it out sometime.”

“Hell yes- Taako needs something to do that isn’t braiding my hair or eating myself alive.” He feels his shoulders perk back up, and it’s not such a fight to do so.

“I’ll keep in touch, anyway I gotta-” She’s already taking off, “see Hurley!” And then she’s gone, and Taako smiles, running his thumb along his chin. Maybe things aren’t so bad.

 

The next morning Taako wakes up to a knock at his door, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes he’s surprised to find Lucretia. She gives a small wave, and he folds his arms. 

“Here to punish me for the butterfly thing?”

“No, everyone makes mistakes. I had some more important news, the Raven Queen and Queen Istus will be dropping by today. As will Kravitz.”

“You mean it?”

She taps her journal, “Certain. Confirmation early this morning.”

“Fuck-” He pulls her into a quick hug and laughs. “I really needed that, thanks Luce.”

“Not a problem, I’ll send him to the mini-diner when I see him.”

“I gotta start cooking- if they’re all coming out from the hollow-” He rushes back into the cottage, pulling his hair up and shuffling through his clothes. He hears Lucretia laugh before she takes off, and Taako looks at himself in his mirror. It’s going to be a good day.

 

Taako has Johan’s music playing in the mini-diner as he goes about cooking, he may or may not go out of his way to do a little more than normal. He shows off, he has a glamour up to keep his makeup perfect and his hair neat, he’s bouncing back and forth as he serves plates and bowls to the hardworking summer fairies. They don't arrive early that morning, it's closer to lunchtime when the patrons start to hurried whisper about royalty. Taako could give a shit about the Queens, he's more interested in-

"Taako!" Kravitz calls, flying into the dining area and heading straight for the counter.

"Kravitz!" Taako drops what he's doing, he throws a leg up and slides over the countertop. He presses himself against his boyfriend, arms wrapping around torsos and hands gripping clothes. He buries his face in his shoulder and breathes. For a few easy moments everything feels right again. 

"I've missed you- Queen alive I've missed you." Kravitz presses his nose into Taako's hair and Taako can't help but smile.

"Missed you too bird boy." He looks up, and smiles as Kravitz leans down to kiss him. "You alright? Ember snowflake? Bond magic?" He tugs on Kravitz' long sleeved shirt, and he nods. 

"Snowflake. I'm here a bit as a test specimen for the bond magic. How are you doing?"

"Tch- You know cha'boy's doing  _ perfectly- _ I designed this whole camp, I can do no wrong."

"Oh I beg to differ," Taako has missed that smile, "but I'm glad you're having fun. You'll have to give me a tour to show off, I haven't had the chance to see your bigger, more successful tinkerings."

"Gotta show off for my man, make sure he knows how much of a catch I am." Taako bounces his shoulders up and down, smiling wide as Kravitz responds.

"I already know I'm the luckiest fairy alive." 

"Oh my god shut- shut the fuck up- you can't say something like that and  _ not _ kiss me-"

And then he is, and again it's soft and they're together. They're pressed chest to chest and nothing else matters because Taako isn't alone. 

Kravitz pulls back and Taako takes a breath. “Where’s Lup? Or the others, you’re not out here all alone are you?” 

“I kinda am,” He sighs, “Did too good accounting for the exact reality here. Hungry from the ride? I know mine was hell and it was only saved by hot apple cider.”

“Hot cider in the middle of summer?” Kravitz leans on the edge of the counter, threading his fingers together.

“Cold cider is wrong- you’re one to talk you walking ice cube.” Taako slides back over the counter, a few of the remaining pixies get the idea and disperse, it feels like a little private space. And for the first time in a long time, it’s not lonely. 

Kravitz hums, watching Taako swing around the kitchen. “My temperature never bothered you before-”

“Alright never mind, no food for you. Thanks for stopping by, you can leave now.”

 

They eat a nice cold meal, Kravitz makes a joke about the temperature and Taako rolls his eyes. Neither can hide their smiles. They start their tour not long after, Taako starts on the far end of the swirl where the Queens had unloaded. Then they follow the curve, Taako holds his hand and pulls him along, talking about the shapes of buildings, the gradual height ratio comparing the shorter furthest buildings to the inner buildings, more important and taller. Taako pulls him out of the way a few times when butterflies are flown in and he gets distracted, Kravitz tugs Taako out of the way of carriages when he gets too invested in describing his thought process. Taako gets to show off, yeah- but it’s more than that. It’s the way Kravitz hangs on every word, he leans in as Taako describes his thought process. He asks questions, he remembers what Taako talks about and finishes some of the tinker’s lines of reasoning. It feels so intimate in a way Taako can’t place, he feels important and like his interests are interesting, he stops more than a few times to just take Kravitz cheeks in his hands and pepper him in soft chaste kisses. (He’s not one for big public displays of emotion, after his wings the attention gets to be too much.)

Taako takes him around building after building, showing him the pathways for the ground animals, the floating guides for the animal talents and the flying animals, Taako even takes him to the river outside of the camp. He introduces him to Seychelle, when she leaves they sit and roll up their pants to put their feet in the water. Kravitz puts his head on Taako’s shoulder, they listen to the water sing and fill the nice silence.

 

Kravitz is pulled away close to dinner, Taako checks his forehead for his temperature and sends him off with a few snacks. Maybe he runs the mini-diner a little happier, so what if he does. He feels alive again, he feels like he’s glowing and everything is actually good again. He doesn’t notice Sloane until she speaks, he jumps and drops the plate he was washing. 

“Somebody’s on cloud nine.”

“ _ Fuck _ ! Scared the shit outta me-”

She laughs, hunching forward. “Sorry, okay not really sorry. How was your date day, you big sap?”

“Oh you’re one to talk-” Taako is still smiling as he wipes his hands on his small apron though. “What about you and Hurley? I haven’t seen you all day since you left last night to say hello.”

“I’m not a sap, I just know what I like. And I have good taste.” She makes a vague hand gesture and Taako rolls his eyes.

“So you here to be a romantic hypocrite, or do you like- actually have a reason to be here.” He turns around and leans on the edge of the sink. 

“I was actually gone all day because Hurley took me out to her old camp.” She says, leaning in. “She told me exactly where the human house was- and I’m gonna go check it out.”

“What- Sloane no way-” Taako feels his shoulders rise, he moves to the counter. “I knew she was a pushover but I didn’t think Hurley would tell you where something actively dangerous is.”

“She’s not a pushover, she’s just got good taste,” Sloane says. “But- I’m going tomorrow. Wanna come?”

“Shit-” Taako huffs a breath, “How far out is it?”

“Pretty far, but I should be able to get us out there faster now that I know the way and I can fly fast. Besides, it’s mostly following an offshoot of the river near here. All downstream. I can get the both of us there a little after lunchtime.”

“It’s- What would it normally-”

“Take a whole day one way, yeah. But again, I’m fast. We’ll be back by sunrise, you seemed interested enough in checking it out way back when.”

“With permission, what if something happens?” Taako asks, although he knows his voice is already brimming with excitement.

“You a narc now? Come on- you’re a genius. We’ll go, check it out, maybe you can take your weird tinker notes, and then we’ll be back before anyone can notice. You think Kravitz is gonna get more free time? He’s an emissary of a minister and they’re prodding him for bond magic tests.”

Taako nods slowly, and looks up at her.

“Alright- tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow. Early morning, here. It’s gonna be great- I promise.”

 

Everyone seems to be busy enough as Taako dresses, Lup is still gone, Magnus is busy, the scouts are at morning warm ups, Lucretia and Davenport are with Kravitz and the other ministers. He pulls on his favorite hat and packs a small bag before taking off down to the mini-diner. Sloane is sitting in one of the chairs, legs kicked up on a table.

“Nice, nice. Alright it’s this way, way out east.” And she takes off. Taako follows, it’s a little hard keeping up with her but it’s not impossible. Just the right level of exciting and challenging to keep him from turning back.

 

They stop a few times to take a look at the summer blooms, Sloane points out some of the birds that fly overhead, she brings along a few cool breezes. They don’t talk much, it’s all rather off the cuff nonsense. That is, until Sloane announces they’re getting close to the old camp.

“So, this old camp.”

“What about it?”

“Well, was anything left behind?” Taako asks.

“You wanna raid it for parts?” Sloane laughs, slowing just a little to punch his arm.

“So what if I do! It’s not needin’ anything-”

“You just always get yourself into trouble Taako,” Sloane huffs. “Brain’s too big, think too much.”

“I think you just don’t think enough,” Taako shoots back.

 

The camp is empty, a few buildings stand in good shape but there aren’t abandoned tinkerings or carriages like he hoped. They stop for a few minutes to eat, and Sloane flies him to the top of the camp building to point outwards. There, out on the horizon is a big rectangular building. And Taako takes a deep inhale, his fingers start to tingle.

“We’re gonna see the inside of a human house, this’ll be your first one right?”

“Yeah- uh, yeah. I mean, I haven’t really been around that long, this is my first time away from the hollow.”

“Come on, hold my hand and we’ll get there quicker. You’re gonna lose your mind.” She holds her hand out, and Taako’s giddy to take it. “It’s just following the river still, it’s a little way off but it’s easy.”

 

His legs are shaking when they reach the building, they don’t fly up to it directly but they perch in the long grass opposite the large path that leads up to it. It’s  _ huge _ , all sharp edges and corners, Taako sees metal glint in the doorway. There are potted plants and the yard looks neat and proper. 

“Woah.” He breathes.

“I know right, the one I found before was different but this one- this looks fancy as fuck.”

“Are humans there now? Can we-” Sloane catches his arm as he starts to step into the path, she holds a finger up.

“Hold on- I hear something.” They look at each other for a few moments, and then the rumbling reaches Taako’s ears too. They lean out precariously, watching down the path. And then, a large metal carriage appears down the path, it gets closer and Taako has to flap his hands. A large, horseless carriage pulls up, closer and closer, until it stops in front of the house, not far from their hiding spot at all.

“Look at it-” Taako breathes, the- it- it like- there’s no-” He has dozens of thoughts bouncing around in his head all at once, none coherent enough to make words. There’s some rumbling as the doors open, and a large human leaves, then a small human exits next. They’re talking, and Taako listens.

 

Angus McDonald hops out of his grandfathers car, he grabs his grandpa’s hand and tugs on it.  “So then Caleb found out the villain didn’t actually die- he had faked his death and actually killed the engineer to make it look like he died-!”

“Oh, that’s very interesting Angus,” His grandpa smiles down at him, patting his hair.

‘It was a very very good book, thank you for buying it for me!”

“I love to spoil you, of course I’ll buy you those books you like. I was hoping you could take a little longer reading it though, I’m due back at the institute by the end of the week and I thought it would keep you distracted then.” His grandpa walks around the rear of the car, popping the trunk. 

“I have a lot more books to read, I’ll be okay!” Angus reaches up into the trunk, grabbing his fancy suitcase. “Are you sure you have to go back though? I feel like you were just there yesterday.”

“A lepidopterists work is never finished, just like detectives.”

“What a team up!” Angus grins, setting his bag down and helping unload the rest. “I’ll start taking in bags, could you tell the sitter when you’ll be leaving? Most of them don’t listen to me.”

“I will, not to worry. Take your bag in son.” Angus does, he runs in and says hello to his sitter (They’re his favorite! Sometimes they bring their little sister in so Angus doesn’t feel so alone-) but he’s quick to go back to his grandfather. He only has a limited amount of time with him after all. He runs back outside, and grins.

“I did! Do you want to work together to bring in the big ones?”

“The help will take care of it,” his grandpa says. “I was thinking we could go to the garden out back though, take a look at some of the wildlife.”

“I can-” Angus shoves his hands in his pockets and pulls out his notebook. “I can take notes! Do the fancy sketches!”

“Excellent work,” His grandpa squats down, “We can-” And then he pauses, because a cool breeze brings along birds overhead, and as they both turn, a few butterflies. 

“Oh!” Angus smiles, “Look!”

Hid grandpa stands up, quick to reach into one of his work cases and pulling out a glass jar with a metal lid. “Hold on a moment-” He watches the small bugs approach, one lands on the roof of the car and he acts quick to swipe it into the jar.

“Oh!” Angus says again, although this time filled with sadness.

“No oh, take a look at this-” His grandpa squats back down, turning the jar around. And Angus squints, because he knows this butterfly. It’s supposed to be a monarch, pretty orange and black patterning that’s clean and crisp. But this one isn’t, the black is smeared around, there’s yellow and blue splatters like paint on the wings too. 

“Woah-”

“This is incredible, what do you think caused it?”

“It looks like the painter messed up.” He says, looking up. “Fairies paint the butterflies right? That’s what June told me.”

“No that’s nonsense, there must be some string of mutations in this one, maybe it’s genetics? Or maybe the environment, have I tested the water and the soil acidity? Something like this only happens when the specimen-” 

And then he’s walking into the house, Angus watches him pull out a church hook and at least put some air holes in the jar. But Angus takes a deep breath, and looks at his hands. They talked a little today, that was nice. He calls in for Mx Roswell to come out and help with the suitcases, before he goes back inside.

 

“What was that butterfly?” Sloane asks, stepping back into the grass. Taako follows not long after, although his color is gone and his excitement has died.

“Somebody- I guess musta messed up painting a butterfly- that was a mistake.”

“Well, hope they don’t get into trouble, that’s something we should probably let the higher ups know about.”

“We’re not gonna go in there?”

“You just saw the humans unload, and look there’s another coming out to move the boxes!” Sloane gestures and they watch this third human take care of the cases. “Yesterday it was empty, but now it’s not, going in there while there are humans would be a death wish Taako.”

“You told me we’d see the inside of a human house-”

“And if you want to, go right ahead. I’ll tell Lup where to find your body. Come on, let’s get back, if we get back earlier then we won’t have to worry about getting in trouble.”

“Ugh- you’re the worst fuckin’ tour guide ever.” Taako sneers, backing up as Sloane walks away. He keeps his eyes on the human house though, he watches it until it disappears behind the tall grasses.

“Yeah I’d rather be a shitty one that gets you back in one piece than one that gets your seal of approval five seconds before you get squashed under a human shoe.” She says. “You just like to get yourself in trouble.”

“So what if I do?”

“You’re blessed.” Sloane says, “Last blessed tinker I remember hearing about, got into too much trouble and got himself killed.” She says.

“Bullshit.”

“What, Lup told me about the dangers of that blessing- apparently it’s gotten people killed.” Sloane says, “And you already make your own problems.”

“What, that monster off the shore eat him? Neither of those are true, you just like gossip.”

“I like you Taako, come on let’s just head back.”

“Fine- fine.” He folds his arm as Sloane starts flying, “I’m tired as hell though, I wanna walk.”

“Ugh, you’re absurd.” She lands though, “Only until we get back to camp.” She leads him further down their path, pushing between blades of grass and occasionally looking over her shoulder at him. “Don’t get lost- woah!” She stumbles forward, rolling down and half stifling a shriek. 

“Pay attention to where you’re going.” Taako says, stopping to look at what she tripped on. He brushes dome dirt away to reveal a button, pink with a small flower engraved into it. “Huh, this is weird.”

Sloane doesn’t pay him much mind, she winces and holds her ankle. “What’s it doing out here?”

“I don’t know,” Taako digs around and uproots it, it’s pretty big but still small enough for him to carry. 

“Let me guess- you’re going to take it.” Sloane tries to stand, and instead hovers.

“I sure am, hey- look there’s something up ahead too.” And then he’s off, running his hands over some exposed metal. It shines in the afternoon sun and he uproots it to reveal a thimble. “It’s smaller than the ones that washed up on the beaches-” Taako murmurs, “There aren’t holes or anything either.”

“Hey, there’s all kinds of stuff,” Sloane flies ahead, picking up a shoe made of a strange material. “This isn’t human shit, let’s check this shit out.”

“Oh hell yeah-”

“The house is the other way, and this is on the way back, let’s have some fuckin’ fun and make this trip worth it.”

 

The space the two of them find is huge for their size, little trinkets and plastic bobbles litter the area. Trees and bushes surround them and a gentle breeze blows through rustling the grass. Taako drops the small collection of items he’s picked up, he shoots forward into the little clearing. Flowers are blooming along a small gravel path, there’s a tree stump and something sitting on it, and Taako is laughing one hundred percent giddy. Sloane is laughing too, she flips her hair and zips around.

“Hell yeah!” Sloane laughs, she spins around Taako a few times as Taako keeps picking these discarded trinkets. 

“This is the most fuckin’ fun I’ve had while I’ve been here.” Taako smiles. There’s some shuffling though, and Taako’s face falls. “Fuck- Sloane- where are we?” He tugs on his cape and looks around. The high sun isn’t a guiding light anymore, it’s a spotlight.

“We’re fast- Taako, it’s fine. Hey, check this out.” She speeds up over to the tree trunk, and Taako follows.”This looks like a- a human house thing.” She pulls at the little pink door, “handle and windows and-”

Taako flies up behind her, and peers. “This is our size though.” He mumbles. “Here-” He reaches over her shoulder and twists the handle, the door pushes open.

Sloane is inside before Taako can continue, she’s spinning around and looking at every tiny plastic and metal bit, something hangs from the ceiling and lots of geometric things line the walls. Some open, some don’t. Taako walks in after her and does his own spin around the space.

“Oh-” his worry fades away and his hands start to tingle with excitement, he finds a collection on small inclines that he flies up, to the next level. There are tiny human things, plastic tools and there are beds, one has a blanket made of some thick fluffy material. Taako hums as he plays with it. “Sloane- this is incredible!” He calls down.

Sloane is leaning on the door, she huffs a laugh. “Yeah, this is like a real human place.”

“How do you know what the inside of a human house looks like anyway?” Taako pokes his head down the walking decline and she smiles up at him.

“I’m very fast.” She rubs her chin and waits for the praise.

“Good thing you’re a woman.” Takao spits back, disappearing into what he thinks is the bedroom.

“Hey-!” She yells up at him. She shoots up to him ready to beat him up when something sparkles and she spins around, looking at the room. Sloane whistles, “It’s like normal- but not. Do you think-”

“They have a kitchen?” Taako talks over her, his ears shooting straight up. He drops the blanket and flies off with a scream of laughter, Sloane rubbing her face and laughing too.

 

“Okay, we’ve been out long enough, we should head back.” Sloane is seated on the counter, Taako is tearing apart each cabinet and loudly criticizing the bulky useless kitchen tools. 

“Just ‘cause it’s my interest doesn’t mean you have to ruin my fun-” He says snidely, taking the punch to his shoulder Sloane gives him. 

“Nah, we can come back- I just miss Hurley.”

“Softie-  _ softie _ !”

“Hey, you spent all of yesterday with Kravitz, you can’t judge me.” Sloane gives Taako a noogie, and he thrashes against her. He swipes his discarded hat up from the floor and puts it on indignantly. 

“I can- therefore must judge you. If you wanna go back out in the air go ahead, I just have a few more cabinets to go through.” Taako turns back to the lower one he was investigating, he pulls out strange half tool after strange half tool. “Why are the knives so big and blunt?” He mumbles.

“Fine- I’m gonna get some air. Sucks none of the windows here work.” She jumps down from the counter. “Call me when you’re done!” She actually walks out of the small house, she traces her hands over the weird walls and taps her feet on the strange hollow sounding floors. The door’s a small struggle as she pulls it open, it’s much much heavier than it originally was. She fiddles and pulls for a while, it’s like it’s spring loaded or something and Sloane finally gets it open wide enough for her to slip through. And then many things happen at once. She gets out the door, and it snaps shut much much louder than it originally did. Then the whole house shakes, and she hears Taako start yelling. 

“Sloane- what the fuck did you do!”

“I didn’t do anything!” She yells, trying to push the door back open. It won’t budge. She hears Taako run forward, and he starts banging against the other side, pulling it as she pushes. “It’s stuck!”

“What do you mean it’s stuck-!”

“It’s  _ stuck _ !”

“This whole fuckin’ place is vibrating!” 

Sloane feels the stoop beneath her shake and she steps back. She takes to the air, and does a survey of the house to find the source. There’s a small black box on the back roof, it’s shaking against the fake tiles and making some kind of nasty noise. She presses a hand to her head and returns to the front door.

“Something’s- there’s a thing on the roof! Making noise and shaking it!” She yells, she readies her shoulder against the door and rams it, she puts her hands on it and summons wind currents to push it in. Then there’s a sound distinctly not coming from the house. She looks over her shoulder, and sees a few of the bushes start to shake.

“Something’s comin'-” She says, her own hands starting to shake. 

“I can’t hear you! Sloane! Just fucking do something-!” Taako yells, desperately attempting to hear himself over the horrible noise. He bangs on the door again and again, the vibrating makes his legs feel terribly weak, his brain is rattling around in his skull and he just wants it to stop.

 

Angus is walking through the small garden the nannies keep up with, he scatters a few unwanted doll shoes and grown up board game pieces so he won’t have to play with them. He isn’t terribly fond of the pink things all of the adults assume he likes, but they let him cut his hair so he just has to ‘misplace’ these. He going deeper into the greenery, towards the old trap he set up when- for the first time ever, he hears it going off. He walks closer- yes! The vibration box he rigged from an old game of operation and the buzzer. Something set off his dollhouse! 

He smiles wider than he has in days, he pushes his bag back on his hip and takes off running through the trees. When he gets close he gets caught on a few branches, but he pushes through. He’s still grinning like a madman, one hand blindly fumbles for his adventure log and the other pulls his bag back forward as he approaches. The doll house is vibrating, the plastic on plastic noise is annoying but he quickly turns it off. 

Maybe it’s a moth, or a small bird- he doesn’t want to hurt the creature but take a few sketches, describe it. Then he can be like his grandpa! But as he readies his hand to pull open the small roof latch, he doesn’t hear tweeting or bumping like he’s expecting. There’s- there’s a small ringing like a bell. He pulls the dollhouse closer and hesitantly opens the sliver in the roof. 

Staring back up at him isn’t a bug or a small bird- it’s a fairy. He drops his notebook, he lifts the dollhouse in his hands and pulls it close. It’s- it’s a real fairy! They’ve got dark skin like his, long blond hair, and silver shimmery wings. 

“Oh my goodness-!” Angus adjusts his hold on the dollhouse and the fairy seems to be panicking, they fall back and roll along the floor as Angus totes it on his hip. “I need to show grandpa!” He quickly shuts the roof again and struggles for a few moments to grab his discarded notebook. He shoves it in his vest and takes off right back to the main house.

 

Sloane is irrevocably, undeniably fucked. 

 

Angus is babbling to himself as he trundles back, he knows he shouldn’t ramble but he’s so excited! He’s got so many words in his head he has to get them out one way or another. When he gets closer to the house, he sees his favorite sitter standing on the stoop.

“Angus-” They say, dropping down to a knee as he approaches. “C’mon, lunch is almost ready.”

“Sorry Mx!” Angus laughs, “I- I solved it!” He says running into the house. He stops in the entryway and drops the dollhouse, he puts his hands on his knees.

“Solved what?” They ask with a smile, closing the front door. “How to ruin your clothes in a new way?” They approach and drop to a knee again and lick their thumb before scrubbing some of the dust and sweat from Angus’ face. The boy giggles, and paws at their shoulder.

“Mx Roswell!” Angus giggles, pushing away from them. “N-No! The  _ butterfly _ ! I’ll change and be ready for lunch soon!” He grabs the roof of his dollhouse and tosses it back up into his arms, before getting away from his sitter. “I’ll be back!” He takes off up the stairs and stomps excitedly down the hallway to his grandfather’s office. 

He knocks twice, and waits- bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

“Who is it?” Grandpa calls.

“Angus!” He calls back, “I- I solved the mystery!” There are a few grumbles as the door opens, and his grandfather rubs his face.

“Angus, it’s wonderful you’re interested in helping me but there simply isn’t a mystery this time. Come look.” He waves his grandson in, and Angus rushes in.

“But-” 

“No buts, take a look.” His grandpa gestures to his desk, piles of papers neatly lining the edges of the desk. In the center is one of his fancy butterfly boxes, with the mispainted baby inside it. Their wings are fluttering slowly, and Angus feels his face fall. There aren’t any holes in the glass this time. “It’s a wonder of nature, I have to preserve it for the others at the institute.” He puts a hand on Angus’ shoulder. “The butterfly is a wonderful specimen.” 

Angus nods, he feels his blood run cold. Words won’t come, nothing will come. He can barely breathe.

“See, it’s dying peacefully. This way I won’t have to pull its wings off,” His grandpa says like it’s the most natural thing in the world. 

Angus nods again, and feels his grip loosen on the dollhouse. “You’re right.” He says quietly, “I’m sorry sir.”

“It’s alright, just let me finish my work.” His grandpa leads him back out of the office and Angus stumbles out. He stays still as the door shuts and he counts his breaths as hot tears well up in his eyes. 

 

He walks numbly to his bedroom, he locks the door behind himself and carefully set the dollhouse on his bed. He falls onto the bed next, and looks up at the ceiling. Would he kill the fairy? What would his grandpa  _ do _ to the little one? Angus pushes himself up after a few minutes, and recognizes that he hasn’t heard the bell ringing. He rips the jerry-rigged box from the roof and pulls off the roof next. Tiny tools and furniture are scattered everywhere, he doesn’t see the fairy. 

“Oh no- oh no please- pretty pretty please-” Angus mumbles, poking around the small rubble. Then, in the second floor bedroom he finds a terrible knot of limbs and blankets, they’re half buried under a bunch of chairs and Angus winces. “I’m sorry-” he mumbles, brushing doll house parts off of the bundle. The fairy isn’t moving, even as Angus reaches down and scoops them up.

They’re a tiny little thing, they fit in his palm and Angus is very very careful as he lays them down on one of his throw pillows. He unwraps them and feels tears slide down his cheeks. “I’m sorry-” He babbles, “I’m so sorry, please don’t be dead- I don’t wanna hurt you. Please don’t be dead.” He brushes a few tiny hairs back and wipes his face hurriedly with his dress shirt sleeve.

 

Taako’s head is killing him, he takes a shaky breath and presses his head back, surprised to find it on something soft. He mumbles something as his head tries to split open like a blooming flower and blinks his eyes open.

“...Lup? Lup, what happened?” He mumbles, wincing as every part of his body aches. The flood of furniture and tools that went flying as the human lifted the house did more than a little damage- and when Taako feels a sharp pain in his back he knows from slamming into a counter, he remembers. The human has him.

His eyes shoot open and he tries to sit up, before letting out an undignified scream. When his eyes can focus again, he sees the human face from earlier. It looks like a child, he thinks. Big forehead and big eyes- although that may be from the glasses. They’re crying, hot tears and Taako falls back onto the cushion with another groan. 

“You- bells- You’re alright.” The kid cries again, scrubbing at their eyes and getting their glasses caught up in their hair.

“Fuck- what are you talking about?” Taako winces, rubbing at his face.

When the kid can talk again they sniffle and nod. “Is- is that how you talk?”

“Yeah this is how I talk-” Taako says, “Istus fuck-” He clutches his side and sighs.

“I’m sorry I hurt you, are you bleeding? I- I can get you a bandage.”

Taako opens his eyes and glares at the kid. “Fuck off.”

“I can’t- the bells.” The kid says. 

Taako rolls his eyes and flips the kid off.

“Oh now that’s not very nice. My name is Angus, I’m a boy.” He says, “Is there- is there anyway you can tell me your name?” Angus (apparently) asks. 

“Taako,” He says, watching the kid pull his glasses down from his hair.

“Bell?”

“ _ Taako _ .”

“R-Ring?”

“Bell’s fine-” Taako says, rolling onto his side and sinking into the softness.

“Maybe- maybe we can figure something out later.” Angus rubs his hands together and then over his mouth. “You should rest.”

“Good thought.” Taako murmurs, giving up and relaxing. “I’m gonna- go… g' to…” He closes his eyes and lets himself fall back asleep.

 

Sloane reaches the fairy camp breathless and lightheaded, she stumbles towards Taako's diner and collapses in a heap a few paces away. A few fairies notice her though, a few pairs of hands help her up and onto a seat. A welcome party seems to disperse to help her, she hears murmuring about both fast fliers but she’s in too much pain to care.

"Sloane, what's wrong?" She opens her eyes to Hurley and most of the scouts, one in white she doesn't recognize. 

"I-" She coughs, and a few more fairies pop up to look her over. "Taako-" 

Kravitz is one of the fairies. "Taako?"

"Taako's been kidnapped. One of the humans took him." Sloane falls into a heap half on her girlfriend and everyone gasps.

"What- no-" Kravitz stumbles backwards, Lup whizzes by just in time to catch him. 

"What's going on?" She holds Kravitz' arm and looks around. 

"The humans took Taako." Kravitz breathes, looking at her with tears in his eyes. "Oh my Queen-" his voice breaks and Lup feels the wind knocked out of her chest like a punch. 

“Davenport-" She pulls Kravitz closer and screams. " _ Davenport _ !" 

The captain appears not more than a minute after, he rushes over and lands. His hands shake as he signs.  _ What's going on? _

"The humans took Taako." Sloane says, tears welling in her own eyes now. She clings onto Hurley and shakes.

_ Explain _ . Davenport doesn't let himself cry, Lup can tell he's thrown off balance but he keeps his mouth shut in a tight line and his shoulders high.

"We- we went out to explore, to have a little fun. We went to a bug clearing- Taako found some trinkets and shit and- there was a little human house. Our size. And we went in and I left but it set off- everything was shaking and-" Sloane curls in on herself. "Taako was inside and he couldn't get out. A human came by and took the house, I followed but the door got shut. I don't know what happened to him, I don't know what to do." 

Hurley holds her, presses a kiss to her hair. Kravitz and Lup are holding each other, and Davenport takes a deep breath through his nose. It comes out his mouth and his hands still shake.  _ Was he alive when the human took him? _

She nods.

_ Did the human look dangerous? _

“No, it was a kid.”

_ Alright, good and bad _ . He pinches the bridge of his nose. 

“I’m going to get him.” Lup says, “I’m going whether you let me or not Captain-” Her hair is burning hot, he feels the hot breeze radiating off her and billowing her shirt.

_ I know _ , Davenport turns to her and signs,  _ I know. We’re all going to get him. As the presiding non-duty minister and regarding Taako’s standing, we have little choice.  _ He turns to Sloane.  _ How far out is the human house? _

“Pretty far, too far for normal flying within the day.” She says, still curled against Hurley.

Davenport turns to Lup.  _ You fly fast. I want you to go find the house as soon as Sloane can fly again. _

“I can go now- I can find it.” Lup scrubs the tears out of her eyes, and she starts to fly when a hand catches her wrist. It’s not Kravitz, she looks down to see Avi looking up at her. She shakes her head just slightly, she waits for some kind of answer as Avi pulls her back to the ground. 

“It’s getting late- and it’s going to rain.” He says, “You’re not going to be able to fly.” He says. Lup looks up again this time at the greying clouds. Her arms are shaking now, her knees are quaking and tears are working down her cheeks. 

“What now?” Her voice breaks.

“We don’t fly.” Avi nods, and pulls his goggles down over his eyes. “I’m gonna need you,” He looks up, “Maureen, and any other Tinkers we’ve got.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, another piece added to my mid 2000s movie AU lineup. Still planning on doing Sky High, just can't find a way to watch it at the moment. I do want to do it, but it's just a bit harder to do than all my movies prior, because I watched them on Netflix (they were taken down shortly after I posted the works, which was weird) 
> 
> But anyway! Catch me on tumblr at MWritesSometimes for updates, snippets, and snacks! and if you enjoyed, please PLEASE leave a comment! It really does make a difference! This fic wouldn't exist without wonderful commenters, and I still have a plan for other Taako Bell fics, maybe if you're in the know on Tinker Bell Movies you can guess what two ;)


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